The Curtain Falls

Li Yan's face contorted, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. The earlier sneak attack had been thwarted, costing him a leg.

Military Advisor Ji's face was also twisted in a grimace. He felt himself nearing his limit. He exerted force again with his right hand, pulling Li Yan to within inches of his body. Seeing Hong Linying's death just now, Li Yan had already guessed something. Dong Fuyi had told him that Military Advisor Ji had mastered several Immortal Techniques and to be careful, and that must have been one of them.

Li Yan felt the pulling force of the large hand pressing on the top of his head increase by several degrees. He channeled all his spiritual power, frantically outputting it to the top of his head and his lower body. He wanted to make his lower body heavier, hoping that Military Advisor Ji's Fire Poison would take his life before he was drained of spiritual power.

And so, the two of them struggled to hold on. Military Advisor Ji already felt the figures before him swaying, his head dizzy and swollen. He couldn't help but feel the Qi rushing upwards, his eyes widening and his teeth bared. He bit the tip of his tongue, clearing his mind a little. His eyes were bloodshot as he suddenly released all the spiritual power suppressing the Fire Poison within his body, dividing it into two streams. A small stream flowed towards his left hand, while the majority was poured into his right hand, pulling with all his might.

Li Yan gritted his teeth and persevered, his entire body soaked as if washed in water. With such a reckless output of spiritual power, he had reached the end of his rope. He only felt his heart "thump thump" loudly, and suddenly felt an even greater force transmitted from the top of his head again. He judged that this was Military Advisor Ji's last gamble. He hardened his heart and suddenly withdrew all the spiritual power he had been pouring into his lower body and the top of his head.

Military Advisor Ji only felt his right hand suddenly lose all resistance. Li Yan flew into his arms as if weightless. Although he had originally intended to pull Li Yan over, the sudden change caught him off guard. A feeling of uncomfortable misalignment, like a full-force blow landing on empty air, caused his hand seals to falter.

Though "slow" in words, it was fast in reality. Li Yan had already fallen onto him. At the instant he fell into his embrace, he suddenly raised his head upwards, then quickly and fiercely swung his head. A cold light flashed under the moonlight.

Military Advisor Ji hadn't even reacted before instinctively casting the "Fireball Technique" and immediately pushing Li Yan away. He only felt a sharp pain in his throat, followed by all the strength and blood in his body shooting out from that point as if finding an outlet. He was immediately alarmed, instinctively wanting to pull back his right hand to cover it, but the Spirit Absorption Art was still slowly operating, preventing him from pulling it back. In his desperation, the last bit of spiritual power in his body surged to his right hand, gushing out, wanting to push Li Yan away.

The spraying blood swirled and danced in the night like the flowers of the underworld, splattering Li Yan's face with blood and filth, making him look like a vengeful ghost. Between the teeth splattered with blood, he still held a piece of thin blade flashing with a dim light. In a daze, he felt a stream of spiritual power shoot in from the top of his head. He could feel his own Fire spiritual power that he had poured in earlier, as well as an unfamiliar Wood spiritual power and Fire Poison that was several times more concentrated than what was in his body pouring in. He had no strength left to resist. These forces poured into his body in just two breaths.

Li Yan leaned against the tree, his breath weak. The thin blade in his mouth had long fallen powerlessly onto his body. Beside him, Military Advisor Ji had fallen to the ground in a pool of blood.

It had to be said that a cultivator's life was much stronger than a mortal's. In the pool of blood, Military Advisor Ji had a deep, bloody gash on his throat, his body twitching, his eyes staring upwards at Li Yan, bubbles of blood foaming from his mouth, making a hissing sound.

"You practiced and vomited blood."

"Hehe, you finally figured it out? Hiss." Li Yan leaned against the tree, without a trace of fear at the bloody scene before him, as if it were just a dying demonic beast he had hunted in the Great Green Mountains before. He took a breath, and waves of piercing pain came from his legs.

"From the moment I knew you were treating me like a pig in a pen, I've been planning how to escape, how to prevent you from hurting me and my family. Hehe, don't make that hissing sound anymore. I know you want to know a lot, a lot, but if I were to tell you everything, could you even finish listening? So, how did I know your intentions, what Immortal Technique you practiced? Go 'Seek Immortality' in your next life."

Li Yan said weakly, looking at Military Advisor Ji's wide eyes and unwilling gaze, his chest rising and falling rapidly, a louder hissing sound coming from his throat. He chuckled softly, knowing that Military Advisor Ji understood the meaning of the two words "Seek Immortality" he had spoken.

"I used your annotated books to practice your handwriting, I used a large amount of floral fragrance to put the scent of 'Zhiyin Insect' on your body, I kept buying all kinds of things to tire out your Divine Sense..."

"I told you, don't look at me with that kind of gaze. I can cultivate other Immortal Techniques, of course I know about the existence of Divine Sense. I also know that you are at the peak of the third layer of the Qi Condensation Stage, and you use your Divine Sense to probe me every day."

"When you think that the things I buy are all insignificant items, you will relax your vigilance. I found a brother in the Ironware Pavilion to forge Hidden Blade Boots, a Soft Sword Belt, and an extremely small thin blade that can only be placed in the mouth. These things are just simple mechanisms and items. Although my brother can't do it, his Senior Brother and Master can, hehe."

"Except for the Soft Sword Belt, which is too conspicuous when placed on the waist, and you might accidentally discover it when your Divine Sense sweeps over it, I practiced with the other things on my body whenever you were too lazy to pay too much attention to me buying things every time I entered the city. The Hidden Blade Boots are just a simple mechanism, and it only takes a few times to familiarize yourself with them, cough cough cough."

The Fire Poison in Li Yan's body was also drawn out by the Wood spiritual power and the Fire Poison mixed in it that had been countered just now. He already felt like his abdomen was burning, and even the wounds on his broken leg and the other thigh didn't hurt anymore. He gasped heavily for a moment.

"It's just that practicing with this thin blade under my tongue every day has made me suffer a lot. My mouth is full of blood, and I have to pretend that it's the Fire Poison backlash caused by practicing, for fear of being discovered by you. But it finally worked, hehe. This is not the last trump card I left behind. Whether it's on the mountain, in the forest, on the belt, or in the boots, they are all my last trump cards. I'm not sure which time I can kill you, so every time I strike, I aim to finish the job in one go, cough cough cough."

Li Yan slightly tilted his head leaning against the tree, and looked at the place not far away where only a small piece of black charcoal remained, and the burly man who had turned into a "skewer."

"It's just that I didn't want Marshal Hong to end up like this. I wonder about this Meng Kingdom..." He thought of his parents at home, his Third Brother, his sister, that small mountain village, and his childhood playmates and the dog in the village that wagged its tail and scurried around his legs.

With a "boom" in his mind, he felt that his abdomen had become a sea of fire. Before the last trace of consciousness faded, he saw that Military Advisor Ji in the pool of blood had opened his eyes wide at some point, and had been dead for a long time.

"Senior Brother Wu, here."

Half an hour later, several rays of light slid across the sky and circled above this valley. After a dozen breaths, one of the rays of light landed in the forest.

The light converged, revealing a slightly chubby youth with a round face and big eyes. He was looking at Military Advisor Ji in the pool of blood at his feet.

Two more rays of light followed closely behind and landed.

The light dissipated, revealing a horse-faced, dark-skinned youth and a gentle youth, all three wearing dark green robes.

The horse-faced, dark-skinned youth walked a few steps to the side of the slightly chubby youth.

"Junior Brother Lu, your 'Minor Exploration Art' is getting more and more exquisite. You were the first to discover it." Before the horse-faced, dark-skinned youth could speak, the gentle youth behind him said with a smile.

"Hehe, this junior brother is timid and needs to investigate the surrounding situation more when going out, which made Senior Brother Yu laugh." The slightly chubby youth heard these words, turned his head and gave the gentle youth a shy smile, but there was still a slight hint of smugness in his expression. ??

After the three of them stood still, they looked around.

"This is that military advisor."

The horse-faced, dark-skinned youth, called "Senior Brother Wu," squatted down and carefully looked at Military Advisor Ji in the pool of blood, then said coldly.

After hearing this, the other two quickly gathered together and looked at it as well.

After looking for a while, the slightly chubby youth nodded. "This is indeed similar to the appearance in the Jade Slip sent by the Enforcement Team's Senior Brother. It's just that there's too much blood on his face, and it's so distorted. This wound, tsk tsk, the attack was really ruthless."

"Senior Brother Wu is right, it must be this person. His face is seven or eight parts similar to the one in the Jade Slip. Apart from the painful distortion when his throat was cut, the rest looks like someone who improperly entered the 'Black Night Curtain Azure Skill'. What's more, there's also what Senior Brother Wu is holding, hehe."

Senior Brother Wu was holding the Jade Book that was originally on Military Advisor Ji's waist, and he also nodded.

"Yes, this item is exactly the cultivation technique taken away by that outer sect traitor. Check his body again to see if that paper book is also there?"

The gentle youth smiled upon hearing this, flicked his fingers, and Military Advisor Ji's Black Robe scattered. He squatted down, and after a moment, he found a book from Military Advisor Ji's underwear.

"Hehe, he actually carries it with him, saving my brothers the trouble of searching his residence." The gentle youth handed the book to Senior Brother Wu.

"This person is dead, so he can't 'enjoy' the Soul-Entangling Silk Worms. His disciple should be the one leaning against the tree. Obviously, he also practiced the incomplete 'Black Night Curtain Azure Skill' and is about to die now."

After Senior Brother Wu took the book, he looked at Military Advisor Ji's corpse and turned to look at Li Yan.

He frowned when he saw the thin blade that had fallen on Li Yan's chest.

"That military advisor should have died at the hands of this person. The two people next to him clearly suffered from the 'Fireball Technique' and 'Wood Spike Technique'. What's going on here?"

He turned his head again to look at Marshal Hong, who was already a small pile of charcoal, and the burly man who had died a miserable death.

"Hehe, Senior Brother Wu, that military advisor clearly had problems practicing the sect's cultivation technique. What can his disciple be used for? Hehe," the gentle youth said indifferently at this time.

"Well, judging by the scene, this disciple of his was probably in cahoots with those two. Maybe he saw through the Military Advisor's intentions and teamed up with two martial arts experts to ambush him, leading to this outcome." After hearing this, Senior Brother Wu surveyed the scene again, pondered for a moment, and spoke as if he had realized something.

"Hmph, that Military Advisor was a fool too, thinking he could break the Fire Poison within him with such a low-level method. It's laughable. What does he think our sect's techniques are?" The slightly chubby youth snorted coldly.

"It's just a pity about this disciple of his.

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He must have been caught up in an undeserved disaster," the gentle youth said, shaking his head.

"Then let me finish him off. There's no need to take him back to suffer the Soul-Entangling Silk Worms. It'll save us the trouble of healing him and wasting pills."

The slightly chubby youth was about to pinch his fingers to cast a spell, and Senior Brother Wu nodded coldly in agreement.

"Hold on!" Just as the slightly chubby youth's Immortal Technique was about to be released, the gentle youth's gaze focused on Li Yan, and he quickly stopped him.

The sudden shout startled the slightly chubby youth, causing his hand to tremble and the hand seal to dissipate, almost backfiring on himself.

"Senior Brother Yu, you can't do that. We're so close; you scared me half to death!" the slightly chubby youth grumbled.

The gentle youth took a step forward and sent a burst of spiritual energy towards Li Yan's abdomen. Senior Brother Wu frowned slightly upon hearing his rebuke but didn't say anything. The next moment, seeing the gentle youth cast his spell, he also focused his gaze on Li Yan and couldn't help but let out a soft "Hmm."

After a few breaths, the gentle youth raised his head and looked at Senior Brother Wu. They both spoke at the same time, "Dismembering Poison Body."

The slightly chubby youth, who had been watching them in confusion, was stunned when he heard this. "Then how can we kill him?"

The eastern sky was already bright, marking another clear early summer day.

In the early morning, the air at the foot of the Great Green Mountains was fresh, and birdsong echoed in the small mountain village. Smoke was already rising from the chimneys, drifting in gentle curves towards the distance. Outside the village, lush green wheat fields surrounded it, with terraced fields stretching out layer upon layer, occasionally dotted with patches of yellow rapeseed flowers among the green wheat.

Since spring, the weather had been favorable, with timely rains, suggesting that the aftermath of the locust plague would be over in another month.

Chang Bo put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped the grease from his mouth, and grinned. He had been living comfortably for the past few months, and his family's financial situation was slowly improving. Apart from the expenses when Fifth Brother joined the army, that little rascal had been bringing back an extra dozen taels of silver every month. In just over half a year, he had accumulated a lot, enough to cover expenses in this remote mountain village for decades.

Yesterday, they brought back another belt from the city. The Village Chief said that the belt was a gift from Lord Ji in the city and should be placed in the village's ancestral hall. Chang Bo had argued with Li Guoxin for a long time before reluctantly agreeing, but he couldn't hide the pride on his face. Li Guoxin had promised that his family would be at the front of the line for this year's ancestral worship, handling the lighting of incense, offering incense, and reciting prayers. Chang Bo had spent a lot of time strolling around the village yesterday, just to see the envious looks on the faces of the villagers and hear their respectful greetings.

"I won't be working in the fields today. I called some laborers from the village last night. With this good weather, we need to repair the house properly and start building a few more rooms next to it in the afternoon. Third Brother's wedding can be held in the autumn." Chang Bo put down his bowl, stood up, and walked out with a spirited look. Li Wei scratched his head sheepishly and limped out, picking up his tools leaning against the wall.

Li Yan's mother watched them. "Look at you two, acting like you can fly to the heavens! Xiaozhu, later, the two of us will cut and wash that half a pig so that the people helping to fix up the house can eat and drink well at noon. That way, they'll work harder on building the house later."

She paused, then looked at Li Xiaozhu, who was smiling happily, and her face changed. "You, ah, you, how can your husband's family be so useless? Spring has already passed, and they still don't have the money to come and get you. Fine, our family doesn't lack your mouth to feed anymore. Once your Third Brother's house is built, I'll find a matchmaker to find you another family."

Li Xiaozhu stomped her foot and ran out.